Michigan museum acquires reconstruction of extinct hominid

Life-size sculptural reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba, an extinct human relative that roamed southern Africa 2 million years ago. © Sculpture Elisabeth Daynès /Photo: S. Entressangle

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – The University of Michigan now owns what’s believed to be the only lifelike reconstruction of a human relative that roamed southern Africa 2 million years ago.

The Ann Arbor school’s Museum of Natural History says the Australopithecus sediba sculpture will be displayed when the museum reopens in a new place in about a year.

The university says in a release the adult female sculpture stands at 45 inches (1.1 meters) and is based on fossil bones recovered from a South African cave in 2008. The model came from the Daynes Studio in Paris, which produced the Australopithecus afarensis dubbed “Lucy” at Chicago’s Field Museum.

Life-size sculptural reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba, an extinct human relative that roamed southern Africa 2 million years ago. The one-of-a-kind reconstruction was commissioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History and was created by the Daynès Studio in Paris. Image credit: © Sculpture Elisabeth Daynès/Photo: S. Entressangle

The university sought an extinct hominid not found elsewhere.

The new museum is being built in the Biological Sciences Building, next to its former home.

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